Opening Ceremony
Opening Ceremony
15.03.2024
This year, we invite you to join us for the Opening Night on March 15, 2024, at 7 pm at Flagey. Come and experience the screening of the captivating documentary “The Art of Losing“, rediscover the illustrious career of the multi-award-winning director Oliver Stone, and conclude the evening with a cocktail reception featuring Champagne de Castellane. Explore the detailed program for this exceptional evening below!
Program:
7:00 PM – Oliver Stone Masterclass
8:00 PM – Festival Opening Ceremony and presentation of the Millennium Honor Award to Oliver Stone for his lifetime achievement and contribution to cinema
8:30 PM – Screening of the film “The Art of Losing” by Sebastian Saam
9:45 PM – Cocktail reception supported by Champagne de Castellane
Masterclass with Oliver Stone
“A cinematic journey with Oliver Stone”
Moderated by Patrick Duynslaegher
After Julie Bertuccelli in 2022 and Ai Weiwei in 2023, the Millennium Festival is delighted to welcome Oliver Stone as the guest of honor for its 16th edition. As an iconic figure in American cinema, Oliver Stone will kick off this edition with an exclusive Masterclass. This event is fitting for a man whose integrity and impressive career command respect.
As a director, screenwriter, producer, and actor, Oliver Stone is a legendary figure in both fictional and documentary filmmaking. As a committed artist, he stands out for his relentless pursuit of truth.
Unmasking hypocrisy, uncovering political lies, and delving into reality without complacency or gratuitous provocation have been the ethical guidelines that have marked Oliver Stone’s impressive career. From his Vietnam trilogy (Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, and Heaven & Earth) to JFK (a fiction he revisited 30 years later with the documentary JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass) and Snowden, as well as his numerous collaborations with other undisputedly talented directors (such as Alan Parker’s Midnight Express, Brian de Palma’s Scarface, and Milos Forman’s Larry Flynt), Stone does not fear challenging the conventional wisdom of a certain establishment or disturbing an established order, even if it means becoming “persona non grata” in the country of his birth, as he declared in Deauville in 2021:
“Everyone says that America is a great country, but as an American, I say it’s a country that can assassinate a president, has one of the toughest prison systems in the world after China, where the media doesn’t do enough of their job, don’t ask the right questions. And you can’t make a film too critical of the military or the CIA. To make Snowden (2016), I had to find financing from French and German sources, and it was the British who paid for JFK Revisited…”
As you can see, for its 16th edition, the Millennium Festival will present an exceptional program of encounters with Oliver Stone, which we will reveal to you over the coming weeks!
Patrick Duynslaegher, an esteemed film critic and former Artistic Director of Film Fest Gent, will moderate this Masterclass, engaging in a thought-provoking discussion with Oliver Stone about his cinematic journey and the societal reflections embedded in his work.
Since the number of seats for attending the Festival’s opening ceremony is limited, we invite you to reserve your seats or your Premium pass today!
Opening film
The Art of Losing
by Sebastian Saam
71′ / 2023 / Chile/Germany
OV: Spanish / Subtitles: FR, EN
International Competition
15.03 · 7 pm / Flagey, Studio 4
Andrés Godoy is an unlikely musician. At the age of 14, already an accomplished guitarist, he loses his right arm while working in his parents’ mill. After years of depression, he reinvents himself by creating his own playing technique. As the Chilean military dictatorship begins, he is forced into hiding, then into Argentine exile. After a long journey and numerous defeats in life, he finally embarks on a very late solo career and travels the world.
